Inventory - what do you do?

[KristinesShower]

I'm going to admit something and nobody lecture me ok?? :tiptoe:

I don't do inventory. I never have and I have been in business for well over 4 years now. Recently, one of my production people (my MIL) went on vacation and I had to take over some of her duties.

I was completely ASTOUNDED of the crap (when I say crap, I mean stuff I never use & stuff we DO use!) that was "stored" over at our shop. OMG, I had no clue we had all this stuff!!

I also found out that we had many containers and lids that I have been continuously ordering - even though we have them already. Nothing makes me madder that ordering stuff we already have!!

Ok, so all of you that do inventory (I bow to you! ) - could you help me out? Do you have a fool proof method that works or some kind of program that you really like and you could pass the information on to me?

I have to get organized - I've done the house already (nesting lol), so now I am ready for the business!!

Oh yeah, and keep an eye out in the classifieds, I am going to be posting a shload of stuff on there very soon! :whoohoo:

[woolfswickery]

First off let me just say I AM SORRY that you are having to go back and redo!! BEEN THERE!!

I never did inventory either and things we so unorganized, but we just have moved into our new shop and hope to open in a few weeks! When I say WE I mean this is a mother-daughter venture. My mom makes the CP soap and has for about 11 years and I am the candle maker and the soap maker in training. We have talked about this and talked about this and now we are opening. ANYWAY! This past weekend as we moved in and set I started taking inventory and I used excel and started some spread sheets and stuff like that where I can keep track of things in the shop with ordering and merchandise. It has NOT been easy as we have not been organized like this for 3 yrs until now. I think though that once it is all done and we are settled in that it will be really easy to keep up and will defintely be a plus in our expenses and profit. I can say it will not be easy but you are going to have to CRACK down on your worker because she may be in a rut as well as stubborn in this is her way she does things......But that way you are not losing money on ordering things when you already have it. I know I am not telling you anything you do not already know but sometimes you just need to vent! GOOD LUCK!

[NancyJo]

Ok, I am no where near you but I am trying to get something in place. I don't know how you get your orders, thru website only, phone, etc. or how you handle your operations, who will do what orders.

You should probably have one person in charge of passing out "work orders" to keep better track of inventory, what is on hand, etc. Very simply, have a beginning amount and subtract what was used for a job. This would also give you a better idea of how much of raw materials you are going thru and if it would be more advantagous (sp?) to order the next bulk size.

[RobinInOR]

I'm the same way, how many times have I ordered lip balm tubes cuz I keep misplacing them. Or 2 oz low profile jars... they just keep disappearing lol...

When I'm organized I use Quickbooks for a basic inventory. When I enter a bill, I go to the items tab and enter the quantities. That increases inventory. When I make up a batch of something, I go to the "adjust qty/value by hand" activity and enter my batch numbers. If it's something I wholesale like a sisal bag it's reduced when I sell it.

That way I can track how much of things I have, and I can set the amount of where it will warn me to buy. I've got all my oils and ingredients listed - I keep the oils in there by the ounce, most other things in eaches..

If I were smart I'd extend that to the actual soap but I haven't defined my bars yet - too lazy to type in 25 more products lol...

[gingerinarkansas]

We have quick books too...i guess I'm not smart enough to figure some of the things out... it's a little intimidating...I basically just use it for invoices but I do enter purchases on it. Ginger

[sudsnwicks]

Well at least you won't need to buy any more containers for a while, right? Looking on the bright side, they were probably bought at a lower price or with lower shipping cost than what you would have to pay if you ordered some next month.

[pamperme]

Not gonna lecture you but how in heck to do you do your taxes if you don't take inventory?

My accountant would kick my butt if I did not have a good inventory taken when I walked in her office in January.

I just do a manual inventory at the end of the year(weigh fo..count bottles..estimate wax)..just once a year..that is more than enough for me... otherwise when I look in a box of bottle and it is 1/2 full I order...or when I am down to a few cases of jar etc etc.. I am good about making NEED TO BUY lists....that helps me..

TIP: when you get a box of bottle write the # on the box and when you take some out you subtract it right on the box with a sharpie...so I always know how many are in there.

but hey you found a goldmine you did not know you had... like finding money in the washing machine or a $20 on the ground.

[RobinInOR]

Easy to not do inventory and taxes - I don't. I don't do cost of goods sold, everything is just income or expense. No need to count or do the 2nd page of Schedule C.

[pamperme]

Easy to not do inventory and taxes - I don't. I don't do cost of goods sold, everything is just income or expense. No need to count or do the 2nd page of Schedule C.

Why does she make me do it then? cause I dont wanna if I don't have to.

[KristinesShower]

Same here - sounds like your accountant is making you work too hard lol

Thanks for the suggestions you guys. I am so happy that I am getting things together, but very frustrated of all the junk I have (well, I won't be if I can make some $$$ off of it lol)

Now if you see me posting about how you don't need this and that when you first start your business, now you know. It often just ends up in a corner somewhere *lol*

[sudsnwicks]

Why does she make me do it then? cause I dont wanna if I don't have to.

I don't know...I guess different accountants do it differently? I do inventory just so I know what's in the cupboards and when something needs to be reordered. I also think if you've been doing it one way it is going to be tricky switching to the other method because it may raise a red flag when your forms are submitted.

[Misty]

I do inventory, and use soap maker to do it. I really like it. It is a job to set it up. You will need to inventory your supplies to do it, but once you are done, it's a breeze.

[Demenshia]

My county asks for a complete inventory on all goods, equipment, and raw materials every year for any business...so maybe it depends on where you live?

[Beth-VT]

Whether or not you do inventory for tax purposes depends on how you claim your deductions.

If you right off all your expenses as you incur them regardless of when you actually pay for them, then you are supposed to do EOY inventory.

Example: You buy $5K worth of supplies throughout the year but pay for them via credit card. You make your monthly payments. On your taxes you deduct the $5K, but must remove from that the $ value of inventory still left on hand. Credit card payments are NOT deductible.

You also claim income when earned, not when it's paid to you.

If you do the straight cash method, you deduct expenses only when actually paid, and income only when received. So with the same example as above, instead of writing off the full $5K, you only right off what you made payments towards.

Does that help?

[jwahlton]

Jenny got any of the clear bullet bottles with black disc tops? I need some of those

[KristinesShower]

No, I've never used them before - surprisingly!

LOL

[Crafty1_AJ]

For me, organization is the key to knowing my inventory. For example, when I order cases of jar lids, they come 950 in a huge ol' box. Just swimming around in a big ol' plastic bag. LOL Takes a bit of time, but I have these broken down into my empty candle jar boxes with dividers. There are 12 "holes" in each box, and each "hole" gets 5 lids. That way when I need to know how I'm doing on lids, I can take a quick glance at my stack of boxes and have an accurate estimate on how many lids I have left. Yes it's a bit tedious, but this is one of the jobs I hire out to my family so I don't have to do it.

Keep all like items stored in ONE place. I have shelves devoted just to B&B containers, for example -- empty jars, bottles, lids, pumps, and lip balm tubes. At a glance I can see approximately how many I have. These items are stored in clear plastic bags or, once again, stored in my empty candle boxes and clearly marked on the end of the box.

I feel for ya, hun. I've accidentally ordered something I didn't actually need, because I forgot to make sure the first order of supplies got put away correctly, so I forgot I had it. After I did that, I now make sure I don't make that same mistake twice! LOL

If you don't have that "organization" gene, I'd hire the organizational work done. Know someone who's a neat freak? Who's really picky about things and super detailed? That's your woman/man. These people are BORN knowing how to organize. I'm telling you -- folks either HAVE that gene or they don't. heh heh

It's SO worth it to be tidy and organized!